By Lonnie Stevenson
For three quarters Thursday night, the Lake Havasu Knights held the very potent Buckeye offense in check, holding a 20-13 leading going into the fourth quarter.
But then just 11 seconds into the fourth, Buckeye scored on a 22-yard pass play and suddenly, we had a new ball game tied at 20.
Havasu offense couldn’t get much going on the next possession giving the ball back to Buckeye, who then went down the field and scored again, taking the lead over Havasu 27-20, with just 6:01 left in the game.
But Havasu wasn’t done. Senior quarter Keilor Pizarro, who had been fighting cramping issues in the second half, connected with Junior Maddox Cosentino, for a pretty 65-yard catch and run into the end zone.
Coach Tanner Kelly then elected to go for a 2-point conversion which would give Havasu the lead however, the Havasu runner was stopped just short of the goal and the attempt failed, leaving the score Buckeye 27 – Havasu 26.
Buckeye would then take the ensuing kickoff and score again making it Buckeye 33 – Havasu 26, with 4:11 left on the clock.
Havasu had one more chance if they could score a touchdown and convert on the 2-point extra point and potentially tie the game up.
However, the Havasu drive ended with 2:43 left in the game when Havasu was unable to convert on a fourth down and 5-yards to go.
“In football, it’s a four quarter game,” Coach Kelly said after the game. “When you play against good teams like Buckeye, you got to make sure you’re tackling, wrapping guys up and you’re getting to your spots. A few times we had guys missing tackles, guys not keeping their blocks and guys not keeping their contain, (on defense).”
Coach Kelly was referring to a couple of big plays Buckeye had in the game including a first quarter 66-yard touchdown run in which the runner was initially stopped in the backfield but was able to slip the tackle and sprint to the end zone.
In the fourth quarter, Buckeye broke off several big runs on a Havasu defense that fought brilliantly but then became a victim of some injuries and guys just winded.
“But overall,” Kelly continued. “three quarters strong. We’ve got to shore up a few things. We’ve just get back in and see what guys are healthy, what guys can fill those spots and get them prepared. We’ll be back next Thursday.”
Coach Kelly saw several Knights go down in this game with injuries, the extent of which will not be known but with 5 starters on the sideline before Thursday night’s game, Havasu can ill afford to have too many more players out against Deer Valley next week.
“We’ll have our guys ready for next week,” said Kelly, “We have guys like Luke, (senior co-captain Luke Johnson (No. 12) and Vinny, (senior co-captain Vincent Fiantaca, (No. 9) who have been good leaders for us and will help have our guys ready for next week.”
With the loss, Havasu drops down to 3-3 while Deer Valley is 2-3 on the season pending their Friday night home game against Chaparral.
Shoutout to the Lake Havasu High School spirit line which hosted a Little Knights cheer clinic this week which ended with the Little Knights joining the spirit line during the game for some cheers and dance.
Note: next week’s game against Deer Valley has also been moved to Thursday night, Oct. 8, at Lee Barnes Stadium. Kickoff is 7 p.m.
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